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Federal and state law-enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a 14-year-old Texas girl shot by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was part of a team seeking to arrest her father, who was suspected of dealing cocaine.

Ashley Villarreal died Feb. 11 at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio after being taken off life support at the request of family members. She was shot two days earlier by an unidentified DEA agent seeking to arrest her father, Joey Angel Villarreal, 36, who turned himself in Feb. 12 and was charged with drug trafficking.

The death is being investigated by homicide detectives from the San Antonio Police Department and by the DEA's Office of Inspections, a team of investigators from the agency's Washington headquarters. It was not clear yesterday how long the inquiry would take.

District Attorney Susan Reed in San Antonio said she expected a thorough probe and would bring charges in the case if warranted. Her first assistant, Michael Bernard, said in an interview yesterday that county prosecutors have been meeting daily with the San Antonio detectives to keep current on the probe's progress.

"We are satisfied that a full and independent investigation of the shooting is being done by the San Antonio Police Department, which was not involved in the incident and has no other interest than in finding the truth," Mr. Bernard said.

DEA Agent Javier Pena, who heads the agency's San Antonio field office, immediately called for an investigation after the shooting, telling reporters in San Antonio last week that Ashley's death was a painful incident for everyone involved.

"It's traumatic," he said. "People are hurting. I feel for the family, and I also feel for my agents."

A DEA spokesman in Washington said that after a shooting involving DEA personnel, a thorough investigation by whatever police agency has jurisdiction is "standard operating practice" and that the DEA's Office of Inspections is also routinely involved. He said the DEA was "cooperating fully" in the probe.

Authorities said the shooting occurred after undercover agents spotted a man they believed to be Mr. Villarreal coming out of a San Antonio house they had under surveillance. They said the man got into the passenger side of a car driven by Ashley who drove away with the lights off.

"When they started leaving without the headlights on, and at a high rate of speed, the agents felt certain this was their suspect and he was trying to escape," San Antonio Police Sgt. Gabe Trevino told reporters.

Authorities said agents surrounded the car and shots were fired after it rammed into two DEA vehicles. They said one agent fired again, killing Ashley as the car sped in reverse toward him, believing he was about to be run over.

The passenger was identified as Daniel Robles, a caretaker for the girl's grandmother, who lived at the house the DEA had under surveillance. Mr. Robles, who was uninjured and charged with public drunkenness, said the agents opened fire only after the car Miss Villarreal was driving crashed into the DEA vehicles, but said they did not identify themselves until after the shooting. The girl's relatives told police she panicked when confronted by the agents.

Mr. Villarreal was identified by federal prosecutors in San Antonio as "part of an ongoing investigation in a larger drug trafficking case," although they did not elaborate.

He was arrested by Kerrville, Texas, police on drug-possession charges just two days before the shooting, with the help of DEA agents. A search of his hotel room in Kerrville on Feb. 7 found a "white powdery substance" on the nightstand and floor, according to court records, and investigators found $986 in cash in his possession.

Mr. Villarreal was charged with possessing less than a gram of controlled substance and driving with a suspended license. He spent the night in jail and posted bond the next day. After his release, authorities said the DEA received information he was about to flee to Mexico and agents set up the surveillance operation.

Two San Antonio men have pleaded guilty to charges that they participated in a drug-trafficking conspiracy in a case that became public when federal agents shot the teenage daughter of the group's ringleader.On Thursday, Jose Ovalle and Roger ?Rocky? Hernandez became the latest defendants to plead guilty in the cocaine-trafficking case that still has agents looking for connections to other drug networks.

Ovalle pleaded guilty to using a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime and faces seven years in prison. Hernandez, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 11 pounds of cocaine and is looking at 10 years to life without parole. Both are in custody pending sentencing in August.

The two men admitted being part of the conspiracy led by Joey Villarreal, 36, who pleaded guilty May 8 to the same charge as Hernandez.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said the group put hundreds of kilograms of cocaine on the streets.

On Feb. 9, DEA agents intent on arresting Villarreal fatally shot his 14-year-old daughter, Ashley, as they staked out his mother's home. The girl's relatives dispute details of the incident and have alleged a cover-up. A federal lawsuit has been filed against two DEA agents involved.

A San Antonio man who was a passenger in a car when federal agents shot and killed a 14-year-old girl in February during a drug investigation has pleaded guilty to a charge of not reporting a felony.

Daniel Robles, 45, entered the plea last week in federal court on a charge of not reporting drug-trafficking activity.

He faces up to three years in prison. He was the last defendant to enter a plea in a cocaine-distribution conspiracy headed by Joey Villarreal of San Antonio. Robles is scheduled for sentencing later this year.

Robles was in a car that left the home of Villarreal's mother, which agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had staked out Feb. 9, searching for Villarreal.

The DEA says Villarreal's daughter, Ashley, drove the car with its lights off from the home and rammed undercover vehicles, forcing agents to open fire, fatally wounding her.

Her family disputes that account and has accused the agency of covering up the incident.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.

WTF?!? I am not a cop or a lawyer, so why should I be expected to know what a felony is or is not. I know that ignorance of the law isn't a viable plea to get off, but this is an obsurd law/charge. Should I call the police everytime I see somebody jaywalk, or spit on the sidewalk, because it might be a felony and I don't want to break the law myself by not reporting them?